The £28.5bn Toll: Why Bad Workplace Disciplinary Processes are a Public Health Crisis

Poorly executed workplace disciplinary investigations are leaving employees burnt out and costing the UK economy an estimated £28.5 billion every year, leading public health doctors have warned.

According to a landmark discussion paper by the UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH), badly handled corporate proceedings do not just damage the directly affected staff—they trigger a toxic ripple effect that actively harms colleagues, destroys team morale, and destabilizes the employing organization.

The standard-setting body argues that harsh or flawed workplace investigations cause such severe psychological and physical harm that they should now be classified as a major threat to public health, on par with smoking or poor diet.

A Mechanistic Approach Over Human Wellbeing

Data compiled by the conciliation service Acas reveals that UK employers launch roughly 1.7 million disciplinary cases every year. The resulting £28.5 billion economic drain stems primarily from the subsequent employee resignations, dismissals, and long-term sickness absences these cases create.

The FPH argues that the root cause of the crisis is a systemic prioritization of rigid, cold bureaucratic procedure over basic human wellbeing.

“Disciplinary processes are often applied in ways that prioritise procedure over people, failing to account for the environmental, psychological and organisational dimensions of harm,” warned Prof Tracy Daszkiewicz, President of the FPH. “This mechanistic application is what causes damage.”

The Extreme Human Cost of Flawed Inquiries

This systemic failure was recently highlighted by a coroner’s inquest into the tragic death of Chloe Moffat, a 26-year-old personal assistant at the UK Treasury. Moffat, a high-performing employee who had been awarded bonuses and was on track for promotion, took her own life the day after being subjected to a disciplinary hearing sparked by an anonymous complaint.

During the hearing, Moffat was denied a support companion, left distressed and overwhelmed, and was never reassured that her employment was not at risk. The Treasury is now overhauling its entire internal disciplinary procedures as a direct result of the tragedy.

The FPH also pointed out that investigating managers often become the “second victims” of these cold procedures, collapsing under extreme emotional strain, ballooning workloads, and the constant threat of retaliatory grievances.

Moving Toward “Avoidable Employee Harm”

To stem both the financial losses and the human toll, the FPH is urging UK employers to treat formal disciplinary action as a absolute last resort. Instead, organizations are being pushed to adopt the “avoidable employee harm” framework—a model pioneered by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in NHS Wales.

This people-first, restorative approach has already yielded incredible results:

• 71% reduction in formal disciplinary investigations.
• More than 3,000 staff sick days prevented.
• Over £700,000 in annual savings for a single health board.

Niall Mackenzie, Chief Executive of Acas, strongly backed the findings, emphasizing that early, informal resolution is always the most effective path forward. “Going straight to a formal procedure should not be the default option for handling concerns at work,” Mackenzie stated.

With billions of pounds and individual lives on the line, the FPH is calling on ministers, trade unions, and corporate leaders to urgently redesign the modern workplace disciplinary framework.

Source: Adapted from original coverage by The Guardian.